Heart of the Tardis
by MarkTurner
Summary: The Doctor cannot accept that there is no way to reach Rose, so attempts the unthinkable, and an adventure follows! 10th Doctor.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer : The characters which follow do not belong to me. Obviously.

A/N : This is canon up until the moment Rose ends up trapped in the other universe. The story just wouldn't work if I included their conversation afterwards. Please forgive me. ;)

* * *

He didn't care. Life wasn't fair. Not paying any attention to what he was doing or where he would end up, he spun around a few wheels, pressed half a dozen buttons, and cranked down on the main lever, sending the ancient phone box hurtling once more through space and time. With a final kick against the central console, he sat down heavily on the metal floor and did what he did best. He thought. He thought about the times long in his past when he wasn't the only time lord. When he wasn't doomed to wander the furthest reaches of space, alone, staggering from one problem to another.

Rose was different. Her endless, and sometimes annoying, enthusiasm had reminded him of why he had become a time traveller in the first place. That rush of adventure and danger that he had almost become accustomed to was once again new and refreshing, and just when he thought he had finally found…

He quickly stopped that train of thought. There was nothing left he could do. No device ever created in the whole of time could accurately cross through the barriers of reality. Sure, there had been experiments on reality tunnelling, but they had all ended badly. For this world and for the one they were trying to reach. Most of the timelord's earlier jobs were preventing people from even attempting such a task. Rieland's Theory disproves even the possibility.

He snorted. That hadn't even been invented yet, and won't be for over a hundred thousand years. On Earth actually. Amazing what those apes will grow up to accomplish.

He glanced back up, looked at the course he had plotted, and punched the side of the console in disgust. Earth, London. April, 2006. Fantastic. For a brief instant he considered just grabbing Rose away from his past self and keeping her safe until everything with the Cybermen and the Darleks was over, but quickly discarded it. He knew first hand the consequences of meddling with things that were meant to happen. Besides he couldn't go back in time and fetch her, she didn't even exist in this reality any more. At the precise moment she was pulled through into the other reality, she would disappear again, no matter where she was. Not even the boundaries of the Tardis could protect her from that.

No, he would have to find a way to bring her back from there, and not mess with what had already happened. There had to be a way. He was the Doctor; He never lost. After adjusting his course slightly to end up somewhere on the far side of the moon, he sat back down, and continued thinking, allowing himself the faint glimmer of hope as a plan began to form in his mind.

* * *

When the whirling finally stopped, her face very quickly and suddenly met with the unforgiving floor. It took a moment for her to focus her mind on what had happened, and when the reality hit her, she could think of nothing but getting back as quickly as possible. Without thinking she activated her device again and prepared to be sent back to where she belonged; To the Doctor. Nothing happened.

"Rose," Pete said, pulling himself up off the floor, "the Doctor was closing the gap to the void. These devices are useless now."

"Doctor!" she shouted, her mind not willing to accept what was happening. "Doctor, where are you?" She rushed up to the wall where the breach in her world was and pressed her hands against it, as if trying to sense him on the other side of the wall. For a moment she thought she could hear the sound of the Tardis whirring, but then it was gone. The silence in the room was thick; each person only able to hear their own breathing and the faint sound of wind outside.

"It's not fair!" she screamed, banging her fists against the wall. "Why?"

How could she go back to living a life stuck on Earth after seeing but a fraction of the wonderful things across the whole Universe? To go back home, put the kettle on, and go out and get a normal job was just unthinkable. Ever since she had first stepped foot onto the Tardis she had never once regretted it, and had gradually believed that she would spend the rest of her life travelling the stars with her very own time traveller. It wasn't the life she had always dreamed of, but she wouldn't have changed it for anything.

The Doctor had told her that there was no way she would ever see Mickey again, and here he was. He had found a way to cross the worlds, but would the Doctor? Tiring herself out she turned around, only to be engulfed in a hug from her father, where she finally let out the tears she didn't even know she was holding back. She knew that she was probably never going to see the Doctor again, but just a few moments later, she felt a sudden warmth, and with it brought the hope that it might just be possible. If she had learnt one thing during her travels, it is that very little is impossible.

* * *

It was risky. Risky in the same sort of way of a mouse charging down a dinosaur. Twice. At least. It was basically going against the very first rule in the book of time travelling and being a successful timelord - if there was such a thing. To his knowledge it had never been done before; at least not by someone who truly understood the dangers; and definitely not without someone else nearby to help.

The question was, was it worth it? There was a good chance that even if he didn't destroy himself and the Tardis, along with a good portion of the galaxy, he still wouldn't be able to get Rose back. His left heart tightened at the thought of never being able to see her again, and so he decided to risk it. She risked her life to save him, and he would do the same. Composing himself, and clearing his mind of anything that might distract him he stood up at the console, opened it, and looked into the heart of the Tardis.

He could see nothing around him. Colours and shapes jumped and twisted all across his vision. Flashes of words, thoughts, images, nothing meaning anything to him. Just when he thought he couldn't take any more of it, things started to make sense. He understood the words. He could focus on the people and the places. Like a camera clicking into focus the last of the blurs became clear, and he saw everything.

Every person who had ever lived he could see, and knew everything about. He tried concentrating on one on Earth at the moment, and straight away knew everything he had done since the moment he was born up till then. He could see the possible futures for this person, not many lasting more than a mere sixty years, and then nothing. He tried again, reaching out further this time to other planets. Things were the same here. He knew everything about every single one of them; how old they were, likes, dislikes, even exactly how many atoms they were made up of.

He looked around again. Another planet now, where he knew someone would cause a fission reactor overload in exactly twenty-three days. He reached out with his mind to tweak things so he wouldn't.

"No!"

The voice made him stop. How was this possible? He knew everything, yet not where this voice came from. The very idea of something he didn't know scared him.

"That's not why we did this."

There was that voice again. We? An image of Rose flashed across his mind, and he remembered what he was trying to do. He looked back at the planet. It made sense now. The fission disaster was going to be the worst one ever seen in the planet's history, but the people would learn from it, and it narrowed the odds considerably of it ever happening again, and indeed preventing further disasters of it's kind.

"We need to get her back."

He knew it wasn't his place to meddle, but Rose belonged here. There was a gap in the possible futures that was unusually large. Each person affects the entire futures of everyone around them - within the light radius of course - but Rose was a major factor. Without her, the universe will take a very different path. No, she needed to be rescued. He looked around and studied every atom, but she wasn't there. He could see a few traces of hair and skin, but no more than that.

"She is in another universe."

Another universe? How was that even possible? He could see every atom that there was and ever would be, so how could there be even another universe. That was impossible.

"I've been there."

He looked into the memories he was being shown, and saw atoms he didn't recognise; his mind opened up once more. It was as though he had been studying a wall his entire life - knew every brick and every fault – and then turned around to see a whole city behind him. He needed to understand them; to see them all. He tried to reach out to them.

"Rose."

It was difficult. He had always understood everything he had seen, but now he was being told to ignore the first things in his entire existence he didn't know. He had to find Rose though. What he knew had to be protected first. He looked at the hairs he found that belonged to Rose, and it wasn't long before he found a match. He knew exactly where she was and how to get there. It all made sense now.

"Thank you."

He slipped back across to the familiar and comforting atoms he knew so well.

"I must go after her."

It wasn't possible in the Tardis. He knew how it worked. He had lived there his whole life; been grown inside it so that none would gaze upon the depths of the time vortex. However now he knew, and his mind was open in a way it never had been before. He glanced around and the Tardis sprang back to life. Parts that had never worked before now worked again – levers and panels that the Doctor had built out of pieces he could find lying around changed to how they originally looked – and finally with his new understanding of the way things worked added a final large red button onto the centre panel.

He then looked at the Doctor, and knew he was dieing. No living thing was meant to interact with him the way the Doctor had, and he was paying the price. There would be no regeneration this time. His atoms would simply fall away from one another, and it would be all over. Despite all the dangers they had been through together, the Doctor had always cared for him, and kept him safe. It was time to repay the favour.

With a blast of light the energy inside him burst out all at once, and back into the Tardis. A moment later, the Doctor fell to pieces. All that was left of the 10th generation timelord was a pile of dust.

A branch of light reached out and brushed against what was the Doctor, and the dust started to move. It glowed and spun around faster and faster, until it began to join together, and a minute later the Doctor was back, standing as good as new with a massive grin on his face.

"Thank you," he said again, as the last of the energy moved back into the console.

As the lid was closing, it paused for a moment, and a tiny ball of energy flew out and disappeared out through the wall of the Tardis. The Doctor looked confused for a moment, but then shrugged as the lid fell closed and all was calm again.

It was time to rescue Rose.

A/N : I believe that when Rose looked into the heart of the Tardis (HotT) she became 'Bad Wolf'. She wasn't quite Rose, and she wasn't quite HotT either. She was something different. What I tried for here is the Doctor's interaction with it, and almost creating a totally new identity. Not sure if this story even makes sense, but it did in my head! I have an idea on making this into a longer story, but I'm not sure if I should just leave it as is.

Your comments would be nice. Yes, you.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer : The characters which follow do not belong to me. Obviously. 

Chapter 2

He looked around the Tardis in awe. It was in textbook condition; exactly how it looked the day he was first allowed to pilot one straight out of the academy. And what was that? It couldn't be…

He rushed over to one of the side panels, pulled off the cover, and stuck his head inside. It was. He pushed a few of the buttons nearby and made to hury out of the door.

No wait. The moon.

In his excitement he nearly forgot he was currently on the moon and not on Earth. For the first time in over eight hundred years he walked calmly up to the control panel and laid in the course for Earth, no time change. He didn't need to run, or even hold down three levers at once. Everything was as it should be.

The Tardis cruised gracefully across the night sky, and planted itself down in a deserted part of New Zealand. He then walked out the door and turned around. It worked. It was red!

In the first battle of the time war – if you could have a first battle of something that existed outside of normal time – his chameleon circuits had been damaged, and without the aid of his home planet, was unable to fix it. Now it worked.

He tried a few more colours, before settling back on the blue. He'd had it that way for so long, he had grown quite attached to it. At least now he could change the shape as well if he needed to. However there was one part of the controls he didn't recognise. The large red button in the corner. He couldn't remember exactly what it did, but if the vortex put it there, it must have something to do with rescuing Rose. Never one to leave such an obviously interesting button un-pushed, he pushed it.

The Tardis shot off, though for the first time in its history, neither through space nor through time. This time it was moving through dimensions. When it reached the dimensional barrier it came to a complete stop, before slowly twisting itself through, leaving the barrier undamaged. The Tardis then easily followed the path laid out for it, and a few moments later found itself back on Earth, Torchwood Tower, just ten minutes after Rose came through.

* * *

"Come on Rose let's get you home," her father called to her, moving towards the exit.

"I'll be down in a minute." She gazed back at the wall where the portal was.

Understanding, the rest of the people were just leaving when they heard a familiar hum. Rose looked around; almost daring to believe it was true. As the noise got louder, nobody could deny that the Doctor was coming.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, as though her calling for him would make the Tardis land in just the right place. Well actually it did.

To the horror of the people watching, the Tardis materialised slowly into view with its familiar vworping noise, exactly where Rose was standing. A few moments later the door flung open, and the Doctor's head appeared.

"Am I late?"

No reply.

"Where's Rose?"

"Erm," Mickey hesitated, "you landed on her! Couldn't you have parked that piece of junk somewhere else?"

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Oh. Come on then let's go find her. She'll be in here somewhere."

His head disappeared and the door closed behind him. A few moments later, when none of the group could get through the door, he stuck his head out once more.

"Sorry!"

A quick glance around the control room showed that she definitely wasn't there. She must be deeper inside somewhere. He tried the kitchen, the library, the greenhouse, but nothing.

He stuck his head into the costume room. Still nothing. He was just about to leave for the next room when he heard a muffled "mmnnnn" coming from one of the wardrobes.

Grinning he walked over to it and stood next to it.

"What was that sorry, I didn't catch that?"

"mmmnnn nnn hnnnnnn," was the reply, followed by two quick bangs on the door.

The Doctor opened the door, and out tumbled a very angry looking Rose Tyler, but only for a second. When she saw who had saved her, she whooped for joy, and flung her arms around him, laughing. He lifted her off the ground and they spun around a few times, before setting her down. She was back!

Not even thinking, he kissed her, and then pulled away. Rose looked stunned for a moment, but smiling so much it didn't matter.

"That," she slapped him playfully on the arm, "was for making me think I wasn't going to see you again. That," she slapped him again, "was for landing on me, and this," she reached up and kissed him lightly back, "was for rescuing me."

The Doctor grinned. "It was nothing. I only had to break through barriers of reality which had never been done before, totally contradict the most steadfast uncertainty law of all time, and it only took me thirty-one minutes. From my perspective of course. Anything for Rose Tyler."

"So how did you do it? I thought it was impossible?"

"I took a leaf out of your book." He winked, but wouldn't explain any further.

Together they walked hand in hand back to the control room, to find Jackie and Pete waiting for them.

"Are they all gone?" Jackie asked, "Those robot things. From Earth?"

"Yep, every last one of them. There's no way another Cyberman will be getting onto Earth ever again. Unless they happen to build them themselves. Which they might. They seem to crop up quite often."

"What happened in here?" Rose asked, noticing for the first time the new look of the room.

The Doctor grinned and spun around in a circle, his arms stretched out, "I got an upgrade!"

"So you can travel across different universes as well now? We can come back and visit Mickey whenever we want to!"

"Not exactly. The Tardis can come to exactly this point, but nowhere else. It doesn't know the atoms in this universe so it can't jump about as easily here, and it certainly can't go to any other reality. Assuming we can get back though, we should be able to go back and forth as often as we like."

"Assuming we can get back?" Rose frowned.

"Well, obviously, I haven't tested it yet, but I think it should work."

"Erm, Rose," Jackie interrupted, "me and Pete have decided to stay here too. Is that ok Doctor?"

He nodded.

"But why?" Rose asked, "Why can't you just go back home to where you belong?"

"Rose, Pete is dead back on our world. He couldn't do anything, and if he was spotted that would raise a lot of questions."

"But you're dead on this world!"

"Not exactly," Pete said, "she was killed during the Cybermen invasion, and it would be easy to make up a story about getting lost and being rescued. Besides, according to the Doctor you can come back here just as easily."

"Take care of yourself this time Rose," Jackie said, engulfing her in a hug. She still wasn't totally happy with the idea of her getting herself into danger all the time, but at least she knew the Doctor would do anything he could to keep her safe.

Pete gave her a quick hug, and then the two of them left. She still found it awkward having someone she could almost consider a father, and he was struggling to come to terms with having someone he could nearly consider a daughter. It was a very strange relationship, and one the Doctor found strangely funny for some reason.

"Well Rose," said the Doctor once they had left, "it's time to press the big red button."

He took her hand again and led her over to a side of the room, and pointed to the button.

"Do you want to do the honours?"

Rose looked between his face and their joined hands and smiled. With her free hand she pushed the button.

Vworp vworp.

The Tardis was gone.

* * *

A/N : Very short and not much action. Sorry about that. However, I'm now free to start my own Doctor Who adventure. I would like to get it all written by Xmas. Probably won't happen, but for a while at least there should be quick updates. Can anyone remember if the Tardis was able to move at all in the other universe? I seem to remember it draining their power somehow. I'm assuming now the time vortex knows what it's doing, that this doesn't happen.

Thanks to the three people who have reviewed thus far. You know who you are.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer : The characters which follow do not belong to me. Obviously. 

Chapter 3

"So," asked the Doctor, even before the Tardis had finished reappearing on the far side of the moon, "where shall we go now?"

Rose laughed. "Why would you even ask that question? Out of all the places you could think of in the whole Universe, you ask me, who would only be able to think of places on Earth."

"Well, I did think you might fancy some chips. I know a few good chip shops in Cardiff…"

"No. No chips. Take us somewhere far away. Somewhere that has never heard of a Darlek." She thought for a moment and added, "and somewhere not dangerous!"

The Doctor pressed a few buttons on the panel. "Could you press that blue button just there? Yes that one, thanks."

And they were off. A timelord, a human, and the most complicated machine still in existence rocketed across the galaxy, perversely arriving at such a later time than when it set off, it might not have bothered.

"You know," said Rose, as they touched down with the faintest of bumps, "you should teach me how to drive this one day."

The Doctor scratched his head. "I suppose I could show you how to work parts of it. I've never been asked to explain it before, and I've worked it for so long I don't really think about it."

"So where are we?"

"Step outside and have a look!"

Rose cautiously opened the door and stuck her head out. Straight in front of her was an enormous building that in a way reminded her of the Millennium Dome, only made out of metal. Running around half way up it was a large metal platform, onto which were parked hundreds of small space ships. As she watched, a few were still flying around and landing, while a dozen or so remained motionless, hovering directly above the structure. Around it and into the distance was a sea of metal buildings and hovering structures.

"Tralexia II," announced the Doctor, "1312 of the 4th era. The week the biggest interplanetary treaty in the history of the galaxy was signed by over a thousand separate species. It brings a whole new level of peace and understanding for thousands of years to come."

"And we're invited?"

"Yep." He took his slightly psychic paper out of his pocket and waved it in the air for effect. "Representatives of Earth and Gallifrey." He held his arm out to Rose.

"What are we waiting for?" She took his arm and they headed off towards the building.

It took quite some time for them to reach the front entrance; the building was bigger and further away than they first imagined. When they reached the door they saw just a single guard, holding a device that looked like a clipboard. Around the edges of the doorway were strips of metal and lights, which looked suspiciously like a scanner.

"Good morning!" greeted the Doctor, holding the paper out in front of him, "I believe we are expected."

The guard looked down at his clipboard for a moment, and then back up to the pair of them. From this distance Rose could see he was definitely not human. His skin had a slightly pale green colour to it, and being bright yellow, his eyes wouldn't look out of place on a cat. He didn't have any eyebrows, but the muscles above his eye moved.

"I think not."

"Well look it says right here," insisted the Doctor, "Earth and Gallifrey. We're a long way from home so I seriously doubt anyone else bothered making the trip."

"Actually, sir, it says quite clearly, 'Caution, this is a mind altering artefact'. I have no idea how you managed to get one to fit into something so small though."

The Doctor looked disappointed for a moment before slapping his head in annoyance. "Of course! Native Tralexian right? A rare few of your people did possess the ability to see through these things. Just my luck!"

The guard grinned, showing a set of small pointed teeth. "That's why I got the job."

One of the lights above the doorway turned green. The guard looked up at it, and then back down at his clipboard again.

"However," he continued, "it seems we don't have any other planned guests from either of those two places, and we don't recognise your biological makeup at all. By law I am required to let you enter. Just don't cause any trouble, and you'll have to stand up at the back."

"Thank you," replied the Doctor, moving through the doorway, "may your teeth grow straighter."

Rose gave him a funny look, but the guard seemed pleased.

"Don't ask," he muttered.

The inside to the building was just as impressive as the outside. Around the edges of the circular room were hundreds and hundreds of seats, each vastly ranging in size, presumably suited to each different race. In the middle, where most of the people were, was simply a large open space. The people standing there were just talking amongst themselves in the way groups of important people do. No one was saying anything important, yet everyone was being overly careful with what they did say.

"Earth and Gallifrey," someone announced as they approached the floor.

As soon as the words had been spoken, everyone in the whole group stopped talking and looked in their direction. With a thousand sets of eyes pointing at them, Rose felt very much like the deer caught in the headlights. However, after a few seconds, everyone resumed their conversations.

"It's a sign of respect," the Doctor explained, "everyone tries their best to remember as many of the planets as possible so they at least have something to talk about. Fortunately for us, I think I could have a pretty good guess at most of them. Ooooh, you see her over there, in the tank?"

Rose looked where he was pointing and saw what appeared to be just a jar of pink mist resting on a trolley. Someone looking very similar to the guard outside was wheeling it slowly across the floor.

"Her?" asked Rose, "Looks like a jar of mist to me."

"Ahh, you see," the Doctor said, waggling his finger, "not all species are solid. Such a fragile race though. They rarely live long outside of their home planet as even the slightest breeze can cause them to separate. I doubt if there are more than a few dozen of them left by the year 1312."

Rose scanned the crowd, looking at the shear number of different people there, each from their own planet. One person who stood out was a giant of a man; he must have been nearly eight feet tall, and covered completely in long hair. His voice boomed out above everyone else's, but he was so far away it was difficult to make out what he was saying.

"Oh yes," a short woman who looked strangely like a three-foot high faerie was saying to the Doctor, "this city was already very crowded. Hundreds of buildings had to be relocated to make room for this one."

"I had heard there were plans to introduce dimensional spacing?" he asked, drawing on his knowledge of time to know that this was probably a fairly recently concept – though not actually achievable for many more thousands of years.

"Yes, only 20 years ago the theories were created. I believe it was 1280, 4th. We're a long way off creating powerful enough distortion fields though. Eventually maybe."

"1280?" he asked, "Isn't it 1312?"

"Gosh no," she said, "just turned 1310. How far away are you from anyway if you don't even know what year it is?"

The Doctor simply smiled. "Quite a long way. Anyway, thank you Tcha, fly safely."

"You too Doctor," she replied, even though he quite obviously couldn't.

"That's odd," the Doctor said turning back to Rose, "I could have sworn this treaty was signed in 1312. Not very often I'd get something like that mixed up!"

Surprisingly over to one side Rose spotted a familiar face. The Face of Boe. She was about to go over and say hello, when the Doctor put an arm on her shoulder.

"We can't go and talk to him Rose. When we met him in the hospital that was a long way in the future. From his perspective that hasn't happened yet."

_It has._

The voice echoed in both their minds and the Doctor looked confused.

"How is that even possible old friend?" he asked, moving up alongside his tank. "I'm sure I'm not that many thousand years off, and you don't have any means of time travel."

_Don't I?_

"Nope."

_Really?_

"Nope. Not possible."

_Nobody truely understands me Doctor. Not even a timelord like yourself. I'm one of the few beings that can make even you look young._

"Does this mean you have a message for me now?"

_Yes_.

The Doctor waited for a few moments but he didn't elaborate further.

"Well?"

_You aren't going to like it._

"Oh come on, I've waited a long time for this."

_You really won't like it._

"Just tell me."

_You're not alone._

The Doctor blinked. "I have to be alone for you to tell me?"

_I told you you wouldn't like it._

"That was it? Well what does it mean? I know I'm not alone. There are plenty of other people here."

_In heart, body, and mind you are not alone. Do not forget._

"Which heart?"

The gigantic face let out a long and deep laugh, this time not in their minds. It was so loud it caused almost half the room to stop their conversations and turn around to see what was happening.

_When the time is right, remember those words, and things will work out for the best._

"Does this mean I will never see you again old friend? Life will be pretty strange without you popping up everywhere."

_Not even I can accurately see all possible futures, but it is unlikely._

"Take care friend."

_And you…_

The next word was spoken only to the mind of the Doctor. His true name. A name he hadn't heard or used in a long time. A name that reminded him too much of home.

"How the…"

But the Face merely nodded and disappeared along with his tank.

"Baffling little fellow," the Doctor said, half to himself.

From somewhere on the roof of the building a loud gong sounded, signifying the start of the conference.

* * *

A/N : I think out of all the characters in the later two Doctor Who series, the Face of Boe is my favourite. He just had to make an appearance here! My chapters are a bit short, but that's just how I write. Coming up next - things go pear shaped. It just wouldn't be Doctor Who otherwise! 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer : The characters which follow do not belong to me. Obviously.

Chapter 4

It took a surprisingly large amount of time for everyone to find their seats, being numbered by row and angle from magnetic south-west. The Doctor and Rose stood behind them all on a raised platform to the back. There weren't many other people standing, perhaps only a hundred in total. Most of their faces were covered in shadow by large black cloaks. These were the people who didn't want to be spotted. The Doctor moved closer to Rose.

"Be careful," he said, taking hold of her hand again, "I have a bad feeling about this. It shouldn't be happening now, and this contract can't be signed for another two years."

"So why did you chose to come to this year and not the right one?" Rose asked.

"Well, you see that's one way the Tardis works. I can aim for an exact place and time, or I can simply say where I want to be and the Tardis takes me there. She's better at finding interesting places than I am."

Rose just looked at him. "That's one way to describe it."

As a second gong sounded, a single person stood up from his seat and stood in the exact centre of the building.

"People of the galaxy," he announced, his loud voice echoing all around the massive room, "and some from even further away, I welcome you here today to witness the final stages of the 4th era peace treaty, which will be defined for generations as the turning point in our civilisation. There are currently three thousand eight hundred people here, each of you important representatives of their own planet, and I, Governor of Tralexia II, am honoured to have been chosen to lead the proceedings today. In a short while I will be passing around the final contract for the signing process. I'm sure you are familiar with the exact wording by now, but allow me to illustrate the main points…"

Rose had started to tune out the boring politician talk, when something caught her eye.

"Doctor," she whispered, pointing at one of the Tralexian guards who was currently running down the steps towards the main speaker.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders.

"…and so," the speaker was saying, "we can see from paragraph fifteen that in fact government officials from other planets who have rights and privileges within a planet covered by the treaty…"

The guard reached the centre and began whispering animatedly with the speaker, waving his arms around madly while obviously explaining something. The speaker looked shocked for a moment.

"There's no need to be alarmed ladies and gentlemen, but there has been some sort of security breach. I'll let you know as soon as we find more information. We have plenty of guards stationed around the building, so we'll be fine. I have the contract here to begin the signing."

"Damn right you've got a security breach," shouted a voice from way up above them. "Me!"

A few people started to panic as they saw a strange looking man sliding down a rope that was fastened to the opening of the hole in the ceiling. The man was wearing mismatching clothes that looked ripped and torn around the edges, and large boots that came up above his ankles. Most striking was the almost ridiculous looking pirate hat he was wearing. If Rose didn't know better she would have thought he looked like a human.

"Having a hole in the ceiling is just asking for trouble," muttered the Doctor. "Come on, let's go and see if we can help out."

"Erm Doctor," started Rose, objecting slightly to rushing straight towards the danger. It was no use though; she was already being pulled through the crowd and towards the centre of the room, trying not to attract too much attention.

Upon reaching the floor, the pirate pulled out a laser weapon from his back pocket, and promptly blasted a smoking hole through the middle of the document.

"Sorry," he announced shrugging his shoulders apologetically, "I can't let this contract go ahead. Cooperation like this is bad for the smuggling business. I'm Max, you may have heard of me…"

The Governor, and the Doctor who was now approaching the centre of the floor, just shook their heads.

"Max the Great?" he added.

Still no response.

"Oh well, now you have. For what it's worth, I am sorry." He turned towards the Governor and raised his gun.

Seeing what was about to happen the Doctor dived across the last few meters, and knocked the Governor to the ground just as the shot was fired. The beam just grazed the side of the Doctor's arm, burning his clothes and arm slightly.

"What was the point in that?" the pirate put on a bored expression, "I'm just going to hit him with the second shot now. I don't see anyone else armed in this whole building. Daft idea really. Hold on, what's this?" He caught sight of Rose. "Even better!"

He flipped a switch on the top of the weapon, and without hesitating shot Rose straight in the chest. She crumpled to the ground. The Doctor made to get back up, but the weapon was then pointed at him.

"Don't," warned the pirate, flipping the switch back on his gun, "she's coming with me. She'll be well looked after – I'm no monster – but if I hear any news of this contract being resigned then I will have to shoot her. Anyway, it was nice talking to you. I'll be in touch."

He carefully flung an unconscious Rose over his shoulder and took hold of the rope with his free hand, wrapping his foot around the bottom for more support. He pulled on the rope twice, before slowly rising back out through the hole in the ceiling.

"Damn it!" the Doctor shouted as soon as they were out of sight. He jumped to his feet and slammed his hand into the side of the speaker's stand, sending it crashing to the floor. He eyed up the room angrily as though looking for something else to hit.

"Thank you," the speaker approached him somewhat cautiously, "fear not for your lady friend. The whole fleet of the Tralexian's is at your disposal. We are aware of these smugglers. They rarely have ships that can match ours even when they are in large groups. They will be easy to track down."

"Follow his ship; make sure you don't lose it. Nobody does anything else unless I say so." The Doctors voice was now absolutely flat and with no sign of emotion at all. This is what he was famous for. This is why the Darleks tremble at his name. "I'll deal with him."

The Governor shuddered slightly, and for a moment felt almost sorry for anyone who would try and get in his way.

The Doctor spun around quickly and stormed back to the Tardis. He flung open the door, and slammed it behind him.

The best part of having a time machine is its ability to travel through time. It makes the whole concept of a chase rather pointless when you can simply arrive at the destination before your opponent has even set off. The look on the other guy's face when he sees you have not only beaten him but had plenty of time to set a trap, eat lunch, take a nap, check the trap a few times, and then get bored, is priceless. Unfortunately for the Doctor, he hadn't the foggiest idea of where or even when he needed to be. Fortunately for him though, _his _time machine was also perfectly capable of travelling through normal space-time.

Bashing the right buttons and setting in a course to follow the Tralexian ships, he kicked the console a few times, and pressed the 'go' button. Nothing happened – only the lights dimmed slightly. The Doctor sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I have to get her back! They've taken her and I have no idea where. I need her."

The lights came back strongly, and for a moment the Doctor thought he heard the Tardis whirr slightly louder than usual. Not a moment later though, it sprung into life and shot off after the other ships.

As an after thought he pressed a few buttons to disguise his ship to look like one of the Tralexians'. It couldn't hurt to keep a few things secret.

* * *

A/N : Hmm. That was more difficult to write than the others. Thanks to all those who have, and will, review. I do appreciate it. I will also gladly take recommendations of good 9th/10th doctor completed stories. Thanks. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer : The characters which follow do not belong to me. Obviously. 

Chapter 5

The chase – if you could even call it that – was boring him. Why were they going so slow? He had to hang back with the rest of the Tralexian ships, even though his Tardis could have travelled half way across the Universe by now. The ship he was following was far to small to risk landing the Tardis in the middle of it, so the only thing he could do was wait. The Tardis was famous for inaccurate landings, and appearing inside a wall – especially the outer hull – would certainly be a bad thing.

They had been following the ship for nearly two days, and the Doctor was pacing up and down the control room, trying to work out where they were heading. Interrupting him from his thoughts there was a beep from the panel. He wandered over and took a look at his screen. It showed the ships around him slowing down, and the one they had been following was nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry sir," the voice came over the communicator, "we were still following and then suddenly they disappeared!"

"Impossible," said the Doctor, "they can't possibly have invented anything that can hide from the Tardis."

"Nevertheless sir, they are definitely not on our sensors anywhere."

The Doctor spun one of the dials around anti-clockwise to show the history of his readings. About 10 minutes back the ship came into view again. He played it through in slow motion, and saw that the ship suddenly accelerates and disappears as a faint dot in the distance.

Muttering to himself about the impossibility of things, he spoke to the Tralexian ships.

"Looks like it's just up to me now. Thanks for your help, I'll see you later."

With that he switched to full speed, and the Tardis was gone even before anyone could blink. The Doctor almost allowed himself a smile. Now the chase really was on.

Ten minutes later they slowed down once more as they approached the planet that was straight ahead of them. He could see the faint outline of the ship down on the surface. He looked across at another screen to see where he had ended up.

"Damn," he muttered, "of all the places…"

* * *

Rose awoke lying down on a queen-sized bed, on top of the quilt and fully clothed. There were a few moments as she first opened her eyes when she wondered what was for breakfast, and why she would have fallen asleep fully dressed. Once she remembered she sat bolt upright in the bed and looked cautiously around; the man had placed some cloth over her mouth and nose, after apologising profusely.

Resting next to her on the bed was a small note, written on what looked like parchment.

Miss, if you would be so kind as to join me for small lunch in 15 minutes I would be much obliged. I will be alerted when you wake.

Maximus

Rose swung her legs over the side of the bed and took a few steps towards the door, staggering slightly as she went.

'Must be something in the drug that knocked me out', she thought.

She made her way through the door and then along the corridor. Most of the walls and then the large staircase were made out of wood. It was a strange sight aboard a spaceship – but after seeing the inside of the Tardis, she wasn't sure such things could surprise her any more.

At the top of the stairs was a large room, decorated in much the same way. The walls and floor were made out of wood, lanterns were hung at various points around the room to add extra light, and there were even a few diamond shaped windows along one side.

'They couldn't possible be real window though', she thought, 'or it would lead straight into space!'

In the centre of the room was a large rectangular table - full of food - and seated at the far end was the man who had kidnapped her, Max.

After seeing her enter Max stood up, moved behind a chair further down the table, and pulled it out for her.

'My dear,' he said, trying to sound as charming as possible, 'I'm sorry I couldn't find you anything more impressive to wear, but we generally don't have guests around. You look wonderful all the same.' He paused for a moment. 'Forgive me, I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think I remember your name.'

Rose politely took the seat offered to her, but chose not to say anything.

'Help yourself to as much food as you like. I am sorry for bringing you here, and I would like your stay to be as comfortable as possible.'

As Max was obviously making an effort to be as charming as possible, Rose decided that she could probably find out more by playing along for now.

'It's Rose, Max,' she said, 'why exactly have you brought me here?' She placed a small amount of meat – it looked like a boar – on her plate along with a few vegetables. The thought never crossed her mind how he would have gotten hold of Earth vegetables.

'Ah yes,' he replied, almost looking embarrassed at the question, 'I am truly sorry about that as I said before. The captain ordered me to go to Tralexia and make sure that the treaty wouldn't go ahead. I was going to have to shoot the ambassador, but I wasn't really looking forward to it all that much, so I figured a damsel in distress would do just as well. Nobody would sign a peace treaty that condemned a girl as pretty as you do death now would they?'

Rose tried to take a few bites of her food, but her stomach didn't feel right. The world had been spinning slightly around her ever since she woke up.

'The Doctor will find me,' she argued, 'and then you'll be in trouble. He is famous for rescuing people.'

'A doctor? Is that the gentleman who you were with then? Doesn't sound too menacing a name. Don't doctors usually heal people? With a name like Max the Great, how could I lose against a simple doctor?'

'He's not that kind of doctor.' Rose replied.

'There is another kind?'

'Yes.' Rose didn't add any more.

Max thought for a few moments while he ate some of his food. Unlike Rose he didn't seem to have any trouble eating quickly.

'So,' he asked, 'you really think this doctor will be able to find you here?'

'Definitely.' said Rose, sounding more confident that she actually felt. Why wasn't he here already? Couldn't he arrive exactly when he wanted? 'His ship is the best. It can go nearly anywhere in the whole of space almost instantly.'

'Ah. You don't seem to be eating much. Are you feeling alright?'

'Not really, my stomach feels a bit off. Must have been from my sleep earlier.' She glared at him.

'I doubt.' He waved his arm dismissing her comments. 'I've never met anyone who had any reaction to it at all. Most people feel like that during their first time on a ship. Perhaps I shouldn't have arranged such a big meal.'

'But I've been on the Doctor's ship for a long time…'

Max stood up from his chair and held his hand out to Rose. She stood up as well and moved next to him, but pointedly didn't take his hand. They moved towards the large double doors at the opposite side of the room to where she entered.

'You see Rose,' Max explained, 'your Doctor might have a little bit more trouble finding you than you first thought, so I'd get used to it if I were you. We're not even in space.'

He flung open the door and Rose gasped.

The bright blue sky outside almost blinded her for a second. There was nothing in sight but blue sky and an endless calm blue sea.

'Earth.' Rose whispered.

About half a million miles directly above them, the Doctor was muttering the same word.

A/N - I'm sorry about another short chapter. Inspiration is at an all time low.


End file.
